Beauty Spot

 This photo is from the parking lot below the "Beauty Spot". Two nights ago, a group of hikers who call themselves the "Riders on the Storm", called Miss Janet's house and jokingly asked if she could bring beer and pizza to where they were camping. They were on top of a mountain called the Beauty Spot, which was accessible via a forest service road. The 12 of us from the hostel piled into Miss Janet's van and headed up the hill, with the van threatening to quit at any minute as it chugged and jumped up the rough road. As we walked towards the riders' campsite around midnight, we started yelling in our best southern drawls "You god-damn yankees get off of my mountain. Go home you freakin' hippies!" and such stuff. Scared out of their wits, head-lamp adorned heads started to pop their way out of the tents. When the saw us, toting several cases of beer, their fears were allayed.

The Beauty spot is a bald (treeless) mountain field, hedged in by forest, but with an amazing view to the south. I headed north on my own, towards the beautiful full moon which was casting a shallow blue light on the trees. After a few hundred feet I found some firewood and shouted for help to carry it. Once we came back up to the top of the hill with several large logs, the lightening storm had begun.

From this vantage point, almost higher than the clouds, I could see where the Ancient Greeks got the idea that lightening was "thrown" from the heavens by Zeus. The bolts were raining down on Tennessee, hundreds of miles away, so far that we couldn't hear the thunder. The entire sky was illuminated on one side by the brightness of the moon and then backlit on the other side by the lightening bolts. The majesty reached me, and I sat on the fringe of the glow of the campfire.

At first, I was saddened by the fact that I was coming home, leaving wonderful experiences such as this one behind. I thought back to the pieces of the Tao Te Ching that I had read that morning, and started to try to enjoy the moment, and as I did so I came to the realization that I wasn't leaving experiences like this behind... I was having them. I was out there, enjoying myself, and I would be able to continue to do so no matter where I went. If I hadn't injured myself, I would have been long past Miss Janet's by now and never have seen this lightening storm. If I hadn't been stupid and not started in January, I never would have met Zero, who I believe to be one of the greatest human beings I have had the pleasure of meeting. If I hadn't had a moment of weakness and gone home in February for a break, I wouldn't have met Juniper, Salamander, or Backyard Boogie.

Everything, no matter how terrible it may have seemed, has conspired to send me on an amazing adventure. By going with the flow, I will not only be able to enjoy it in retrospect as I am now, but as it is happening, something I have always struggled to do. Almost all of my outdoor experiences have been miserable while I was out there, doing it, but once I finish and think back upon them, I have nothing but good memories of laughter and fun.

If I can learn to enjoy the experiences as I experience them, life could become a blissful voyage.

A Short Break

It feels strange, finally accepting the fact that I have thrown in the towel for this year. My week at Miss Janet's house last week was amazing, and on Thursday one of the hikers -- Otto -- was going to Boone. Since I have a friend at Lee's McRae, near there, I decided to hitch a ride and spend the weekend with Wentworth. I had a pretty good time and was distracted enough to keep my mind off of the fact that I wasn't going to Maine. I am so glad now that I pushed on through those hard times in January. Coming off trail due to an injury is bad enough. I now understand what people have been telling me, that coming off trail due to lack of determination is something I would never be able to forgive myself for.

After three days of fun in Boone/Banner Elk, I got a ride with some of Wentworth's friends back here to Erwin. I'll be staying here and helping out Miss Janet for another week, and on Saturday I'll be flying home. I chose to go home for several reasons. First and foremost, I need medical attention. I picked this Saturday so that I could be home for Easter and see some of my relatives, as I've essentially been absent for the past two years. Finally, and this one is mostly just a bonus, I'll be going to an open house at UVM, something I couldn't do last year, and as icing on the cake, Margaret will be going to an open house at Middlebury, 30 minutes down the road, so we'll get to see each other.

I'm going to treat this trip similar to when I went home in February -- I'm visiting, not returning. I'm going to regroup and then head out on another adventure. What that adventure is, I don't know.

Currently I am reading the Tao of Pooh, and I think that for the next few months I shall embrace the Taoist principle of going with the flow.